Tile TPS Heat Soak-Back Simulator

Reusable ceramic-tile thermal protection — the kind that covered the Space Shuttle orbiter — survives reentry not by burning away like an ablative shield, but by refusing to conduct heat. This simulator solves the 1D transient heat-conduction equation through a tile's cross-section in real time: a reentry-shaped heat pulse hits the coated outer surface, a radiative-equilibrium boundary condition balances incoming flux against blackbody re-radiation, and the heat that does get past the coating keeps diffusing inward through the insulation toward the airframe. Adjust the peak heating rate, tile thickness, insulation conductivity and coating emissivity, then watch the surface flash hot and cool quickly while the backface temperature keeps climbing for minutes after the pulse ends — the "soak-back" that drives real TPS thickness sizing and post-landing turnaround time.